Editors' Note: When we decided to consider the work of
William Pope.L, we invited the artist Rodney McMillian to
contribute one of the essays. He chose to incorporate in his text
an interview he conducted with artist and writer Michelle Grabner,
originally intended as her contribution to a catalogue for an
exhibition by Pope.L at Kenny Schachter ROVE Gallery in London (it
was never published). Here, we reprint the interview followed by
McMillian's later reflections on Pope.L's practice.

Rodney McMillian, January 2008

Pope.L was my bogeyman. I turned him into my bogeyman, almost a
nemesis, when in fact the difference that divides us is one of
ideology, not of desire. William Pope.L was my bogeyman because for
me he embodied a belief that there is no way out of a
black-and-white, binary existence. I believed Pope.L actively
performed personas or actions to make apparent the fear, apathy,
disgust, objectification, confusion, ambivalence many have towards
the black male body. He is aware of and uses those understandings
to challenge the historical reality of what it means to walk in
this skin in America, and perhaps anywhere. However, I question
whether his actions provide enough of a forum to address the
complexities of contemporary representations in which skin colour
is part of a much larger spectrum.

Asked to contribute some thoughts on Pope.L's work for
Afterall, I wanted to continue from the earlier interview
with Michelle Grabner because I had not stopped thinking about
Pope.L's works or my responses to it. Why was I invested in a
dialogue on work that I had found problematic on so many levels? I
was reminded that art, ideas and politics are always

Footnotes

See Mark H.C. Bessire (ed.), William Pope.L: The Friendliest
Black Artist in America, Cambridge and London: The MIT Press,
2002.↑

In a 1999 PBS documentary titled I'll Make Me a World, artist
Betye Saar described Walker's art as 'revolting and negative, and a
form of betrayal to the slaves … basically for the amusement and
the investment of the white art establishment'.↑

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